David33

You know, I usually don't care about English titles, but "Perfect Crown" was a bad choice after watching the finale.

The original "Wife of a 21st Century Prince" would actually fit the story more, not only because the crown wasn't perfect, but because she was actually married to a 21st century prince. Like, what makes this crown perfect? The crown doesn't even exist anymore.

Why couldn't this drama deliver with a cast like this? You can find the reason if you look at the writer. Her being a rookie isn't a good excuse. This isn't a complicated story, just another romcom. This has nothing to do with episode number either. You can give a writer 5 or 50 episodes. If they can't develop characters and build up their journey properly in 12 episodes, they won't be able to do it if you give them more. This is just a typical Kdrama fan way of thinking that quantity can solve problems, but in reality fans only want to see their favorite lead characters longer. It's not about the story.

So, let's see the actual story and how the writer demolished pretty much every character in "Perfect Crown" just like Ian demolished monarchy.

We have a strong, smart, and independent female lead who runs her own business. She's the richest woman in the country, but people in her inner circle don't respect her because she's not married to a nobleman. At least that's what the writer tries to tell us, but we've never seen this. So, she decides she's going to marry the prince for his status. Eventually she falls in love too obviously, just as Ian has loved her since their school days. The minute they fall in love, our dear female lead, Huiju, forgets her goal and her pride and says things like, "I never wanted status." This is basically a character suicide. It's one thing to move on from your original plan because you're in love now, but to say such a thing screams incompetent writing skills or at least ignorance.

Why do I care about writing when this is just a romcom? I can already hear you asking this. I didn't expect hardcore politics and scheming, but I want a well written script where the story actually makes sense, and I won't ask, "Why does this character do this?" There's no buildup to anything; they're just doing things because they have to.

I think it's safe to say the only character in the drama whose arc is logical is Ian, because when he wanted to be a king, he couldn't get it, and when he had a chance, he wanted to demolish it because it people were hurting each other over it. Not that this was explained throughout the season effectively, but at least it wasn't surprising. I have to be honest, Ian as a character is one of the most uninteresting male leads I've seen in a while. I never felt like he had plans; he was just there because he was the lead and things happened.

We've had 3 villains in 12 episodes, or did we? At first, the writer introduced the queen mother to us as a power-hungry, abusive mother of her 7 year old king. She obviously killed the late king, the father of her own child, but we never get a real explanation about this either. If anything, episodes later they were trying to convince us that she didn't do anything bad at all. So, a woman who killed her husband, not to mention wanted to burn her own son alive, got a redemption arc. Why not, right?

Now, our 2nd antagonist, who became one because everyone expected him to be. Everyone's favorite Jinmu. I don't remember if we've seen him till halfway or had any lines. Then, around episode 6 or so, they tried to convince everyone he was the culprit behind everything bad that happened. Again, a totally random villain arc without any buildup.

Here comes the worst of them all. The guy had more charisma than any other man in this drama, yet the writer managed to ruin his character arc completely and made him your average jealous teen boy who could burn down an entire country for a woman who never loved him more than a friend. Prime Minister Min could've been a great villain, but the creators chose to make him a third-wheeling, angry cat. He was basically like Anakin Skywalker, who wanted to reach the sky but couldn't walk. I always wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt because I was too naive and thought the writer might pull off something interesting, like he was just a double agent of Ian. Sadly, she just didn't care because she knew most people wouldn't pay attention to the story if the two main leads could carry the drama for her.

If there's one positive I can mention about this drama, it's the cast and their acting. They did a great job, especially the female actors, and they carried a bang-average (at best) script.

If I have to be really honest, the female characters did the heavy lifting because pretty much every male character was useless and boring or both.


Is there anything left? Well, I have to mention a couple of things for the last part.

We've had multiple plotlines, but almost everything was unanswered, or it was finished in a hurry.

What happened to the prime minister? He's probably in jail, but they spent so much time on things that aren't important at all; they didn't have any time left to actually mention the relevant things.

Who killed Ian's parents, or was that just an accident? How did Ian get the king's letter? How did Queen Mother get Huiju and Ian's contract? Who tried to kill Huiju? How can everyone burn down the palace so many times, and no firefighter goes in to save people except the main leads?

Why on Earth would the richest woman, who said she wants to marry a man who's not below her quality, stick to a man who can't, sorry, doesn't want to find a job for himself for 3+ years? Did Ian deal with some politics, or was he just signing contracts without reading them? Why did he never ask his wife or her dad to help him find a job at least?

I mean, if Ian were not the male lead, everyone would call him a red flag and a loser. A guy who wanted to demolish monarchy is now a housewife who can't cook, can't clean, and I don't think can do anything.

I'm sorry, but being a romcom doesn't excuse a female for forgetting her priorities just because she's in love. Everyone else got a job; even Hyeon runs a flower shop. I'm sure even the ex-Prime Minister guy has a job in prison.


I forgot to mention this, but why do Huiju and Ian still live in the palace's private residence? I guess the budget was low in the finale, so Huiju couldn't buy a new house because the ex-prince cost a lot of money.

To be honest, I could go on all day, but I don't see the point; I'm just too angry. "Perfect Crown" could've been an actually good drama with a good writer who could do more than just fan service.


This is the disappointment of the year so far.